>Victor wrote:> Its not unusual for a follower to do something you don't
>expect.
Amen. In fact, if you get right down to it, it's pretty UNusual for a follower,
no matter how experienced, to do EXACTLY what you expect, in terms of her step
speed, direction, or timing. IMO one of the goals of a leader is to accommodate
the variability of his follower's responses. Like Gavito said, "I lead, but I
follow." The leader cannot afford to "expect," to count on, a specific
response. He must wait for her to start moving, pay enough attention to her
that he can see/feel what she's doing, and adjust his step and body mechanics
accordingly.
That said, an experienced follower will get a lot closer to precisely what you
intend her to do that will an inexperienced one (duh). A principle I learned in
a management training class in my previous life in the corporate world applies
here. It's called Situational Leadership. Basically you lead differently
depending on the skill of your partner. Certainly you lead different steps, but
you also use different timing and body movements. If I want a cross and am
dancing with an experienced follower, I don't hardly need to turn my torso at
all. I just set up the step and our body positions, and it works. With an
inexperienced follower, it's often necessary to do the "CW-wind & CCW-unwind"
in order to get her to cross.
OTOH, I have heard Alex Krebs say Many times, if you lead a woman to the cross
a couple of times, and she doesn't get it, then she doesn't get it, and you
should stop leading it. Every time you lead something that she doesn't get, she
knows something went wrong, and assumes she messed up. So the principle is,
make her feel comfortable, give her a pleasurable dance, by not leading steps
she doesn't know how to follow.
J
TangoMoments.com
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